Stormers ease past Lions to return to winning ways

Your point on England’s D is well made but the Prem is probably serving the right fare to its fans because they desperately need to not only keep every one of them engaged but to grow, and grow quickly. The financial backdrop challenges they are under have absolutely not gone away and you only need to look at the high level position to see that. Around half of the teams are entirely reliant on owners writing large cheques (albeit some larger than others) every year to remain solvent, and several of them are currently in a very precarious position as owners review their intentions. The others barely scrape by as going concerns under their own steam and yet there are plans to introduce a couple of phoenix clubs into the mix as well!

So while the on field product may well be in rude health as far as entertainment is concerned, the financial health of the Prem is in an altogether very different position.

I suspect Dupont is a major driver of this and expect it in the 6N.

PS Ireland need to hire Felix Jones to counter this in medium term.

Playing off 10 or 12 is just different, but certainly not more formulaic. I gess the emphsais on 9 is inevitable given the size of French Top 14 packs and the huge stress on set-piece.